Job Interview? Leave This Controversial Accessory at Home

If you want to land the job, lose the engagement ring—especially if it’s big. So goes the sage advice published in a polarizing new opinion piece on LinkedIn, of all places. Executive recruiter and career counselor Bruce Hurwitz recounts his experience with a young woman on the job hunt who not-so-subtly sported “the Hope Diamond” on her ring finger during interviews. Despite being well qualified, she went on job interview after job interview to no avail—until she followed Hurwitz’s advice, that is.

“Two weeks later, I got a call from the woman. She asked me to tell my colleague that she had found a job and was no longer interested in our services,” writes Hurwitz. “She told me that the only thing she did differently at her last job interview, which resulted in the job offer, was not to wear the ring.” Hurwitz reasons that a large engagement ring is the sign of a “high-maintenance” woman to men and serves as a threat to women. “When the woman at the office who has the largest diamond on her finger, sees that ring, she will realize that if you are hired she will fall to second place and will, therefore, not like you.”

Hurwitz is somewhat accurate in his assessment of an engagement ring as a potential sign of wealth or status (one with the potential to influence a job interview, however unfairly). But his logic stops there. Aside from implying that working women are small-minded and neurotic enough to fret over the size of a female co-worker’s engagement ring—to the point of disliking them—Hurwitz also makes some rather jarring assumptions about a woman’s jewelry and her level of competence. Rather than interpreting a large engagement ring as a sign of a successful woman—like you would for a man wearing a Rolex, for example—he immediately equates a flashy piece of jewelry to personality traits unsuited to an office environment.

Where do you stand on this issue: engagement ring or no engagement ring? Share your opinion below, and nail your upcoming interview—ring or no ring—with this book.